Car-seal.



No. 774,408, PATENTED NOV. 8. 1904-, E. B. WILLIAMS & H. R. HINSON.

GAR- SEAL.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 27, 1902. N0 MODEL.

WITNESSES UITE STATES Patented November 8, 1904.

ATEN'I" rinse.

ELMER B. WILLIAMS AND HENRY R. HINSON, OF SAN FRANCISCO.

CALIFORNIA.

CAR-SEAL.

- SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 774,408, dated November 8, 1904.

Application filed September 27,1902. Serial No. 125,095x (No model.) 7

lowing to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention. such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

The object of the present invention is in an economical and expeditious manner to present a car-seal of construction requiring no tools or other implements for assembling the parts or for joining and fastening the same together to effect sealing of the lock when the device is applied thereto; furthermore, to produce a seal of form and construction to insure the parts thereof against disarrangement and disengagement in the event of the seal being tampered with; furthermore, to produce a carscal of such construction as to present a double locking thereof, effecting certain and permanent sealing of the lock; furthermore, to present a seal all the parts of which are integral one with the other, rendering it easy of application in use and obviating danger of the parts thereof being lost or disarranged while the device is being marketed.

ith these objects in View the invention resides in the novel construction and combi nation of parts of a device characterized by my invention, as will hereinafter more fully appear in the specification and as then pointed out in the claims.

In the accompanying drawings, forming a part of the specification, and in which like letters of reference indicate corresponding parts, we have shown the principal embodiment of our invention, though it is to be understood that the same may be departed from or varied in certain particulars and yet be within the spirit and scope of our invention.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a view in perspective showing the housing with its attached strap or band, the housing being partly broken away to show the inserted end of the strap positioned on the lug or projection formed within the housing. Fig. 2 is a view in side elevation of the same with the covering member partly raised, more fully to illustrate the strap or band with its double-hook-formed end in contact with the hook-formed end of the lug or projection within the housing. Fig. 3 is another view in side elevation, showing the clouble-hook-formed end of the strap in the position it occupies just after it is inserted into the housing and before it interlocks with the lug or projection in the housing. Fig. iis a similar View, the hook-formed end of the strap contacting with the lug or projection, but not interlocking therewith. Fig. 5 is a similar view of the hook-formed end of the strap bearing against the under side of the lug or projection, this being the position it assumes for locking the parts in position in one direction, it being understood that the two hooks interlockwhen the strap is fully projected in the opposite direction. Fig. 6 is a View of the device in the form in which it is stamped out by the die and before being formed up into operative shape, and Fig. 7 is a view of a modification.

In the drawings, A designates the housing, preferably consisting of a body member a and a covering member c one preferably integral with the other and of any desired form and material, preferably spring metal or tin. As will be understood, the covering member a is designed to be bent over and nearly upon the body member, and the edges of the two members may be joined together in any preferred manner, as by the ears (0 and by rivets passing through the perforations a". It is to be understood, however, that the edges may be flanged or otherwise bent over each other to effect locking of the same.

On the body member a and preferably formed integral therewith is a lugor projection a which has its end bent over toward the upper face ofthe body member and forms a hook a". As appears in Fig. 2, the lug or projection a rises obliquely from the upper face of-the body member a and the hook (0 projects down toward the upper face of the body member. At the edge of the housing, where is disposed this lug or pro ection (17:, the housing is provided with an aperture (4,

and this may be formed by leaving the edges 1 somewhat separated from each other, or the aperture may be formed or constituted in any other appropriate manner and form. tending from the opposite side of the housing and preferably formed integral with the same is a narrow tongue, strap, or band B, which in the use of the seal is designed to be passed through the car-door staple and is of dimen may be provided with heads or enlargements (1" 0 Fig. 9, so that upon the same abuttmg against each other they will constitute a denand lapped to constitute the housing, 850., as

sions suflicient to meet the needs of its application in use. The opposite free extremity of this strap or band B has its end bent over over upon itself to form a second hook 59 Near the double-hook-formed end the strap or band B may, if desired, be reinforced, as

, aperture the same is desirably guided and tegral with the strap or band B, as appears i ment between the hook-shaped end of the at e and this reinforcement may be made inin Fig. 6.

The construction and function of the parts of this device will be obvious. After the blank has been formed in any suitable die the lug or projection a, with its hook end a, is bent over toward the body member (0. Then the covering member (1/ is bent down ing A will be formed. the body member a are bent over the edges of the covering member a and fastened. The parts are then riveted, if desired, in the perforations a, and the housin thus becomes a permanent structure and 1s so constructed before it leaves the manufacturer, and then the strap or band has its end bent to form the double hook. The article is now ready for use. The strap or band B is first placed through the car-door staple and the doublehook-formed end is inserted into the housing through the aperture 6/, where the hook moves upon and then over the lug or projection a progressively, as shown in Figs. 3, 4, and 5, until it abuts against the opposite side of the housing. If it then be pulled back slightly, it assumes the position shown in Fig. 5, where the double-hook formed portion lodges in the socket a, formed between the lug or projection 64 and the upper face of the body member a. 1n the event that the strap or band B should be moved with a view to its surreptitious disarrangement or withdrawal the hook 71 on the strap or band B will interlock immediately with the hook u on the lug or projection 0". There is thus constituteda double locking device, and Withdrawal of the strap or band is absolutely impossible unless the seal be broken.

If desired, the housing A may be cast or otherwise constructed, and instead of forming hooks on the end of the lug or projection a and on the strap or band B these parts above described.

It 1s obvlous that an important advantage over previous structures accrues 1n constructing the housing of our device so that the two to form a hook b, and this end in turn is bent i members thereof are bent one upon the other I and have the edges firmly secured in the manner already described, as in forcing the hook end of the strap into the housing through the finally locked in position by frictional engagestrap and the interior walls of the housing. In

.2 other words, the spring metal of the two members give a compressing action on the hookshaped end of the strap and prevents any sidewise movement of said hook-shaped end with j in the two members constituting the housing. toward the body member 11/, so that the hous- 5 Then the ears a on The face of the housing may, if desired, be stamped with certain designating and distinguishing letters, figures, or designs, and this may be done when it is being cut out by the die. There may also, of course, be designating letters, figures, or designs upon the strap or band B.

In use the end of the strap or band of our invention is inserted in the housing and becomes permanently interlocked with the certain abutments therein, and it is absolutely impossible to unlock or open it without breaking the seal.

Having thus fully described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

1. As a new article of manufacture, a carseal consisting, in a single piece of material, of a housing comprising two substantially similarly shaped members, one member bent flatly upon the other, said housing being provided with an aperture in one of its edges, means for permanently and tightly holding the edges of the members together, an inward-extending lug or projection on the interior surface of one of said members and contiguous to the aperture, and a strap or band extending from an edge of the housing opposite to the aperture and carrying a hook-formed end to be forced through the aperture, into the housing, and to bear against the inward-extending lug or projection, the housing, by the peculiar clamping relation of its two members, guiding and holding in proper position said hook-shaped end by frictional contact there- IIO between and the interior walls of the housing, substantially as and for the purpose described.

2. As a new article of manufacture, a carseal consisting, in a single piece of material, of a housing comprising two substantially similarly shaped members, one member bent flatly upon the other, said housing being provided with an aperture in one of its edges, means for permanently and tightly holding the edges of the members together, an inward-extending lug or projection on the interior surface of one of the members and contiguous to the aperture, said lug carrying a hook-formed end and a strap or band extending from an edge of the housing opposite to the aperture and carryinga dou ble-hook-formed end to beforced through the aperture, into the housing, and to bear against the lug or projection to effect interlocking of the hooks; the housing, by the peculiar clamping relation of its two members, guiding and holding in proper position said double-hook-shaped end by frictional contact therebetween and the interior walls of the housing, substantially as and for the purpose described.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a carseal consisting of a housing formed without side walls comprising a body member, a covering member formed integral with and bent over and nearly against the body member, having all but one of the meeting edges joined, leaving an opening or aperture at one of the edges, means for joining the edges, a lug or projection formed of and projecting from the body member of the housing at the aperture therein, and provided witha hook-formed end, and a strap or band formed of and extending from the body member and having its opposite end provided with a double hook, and being reinforced, in the course of its length, adjacent to the hook, the double-hook-formed end being insertible into the housing to effect an interlocking of the two hooks with the lug or projection and this hook-formed end within the housing, substantially as described.

4:. As a new article of manufacture, a carseal made up of a single strip of material comprising a band terminating at one end in an enlargement, a central lug adapted to be bent down upon said enlargement to form a hook, and a pair of ears also carried by said enlargement and so arranged that when said enlargement is doubled upon itself and said ears are bent over upon the back of said enlargement, a housing is formed, a hook being formed upon the free end of said band to enter said housing and interlock with the hook formed by said lug.

5. As a new article of manufacture, a carseal made up of a single strip of material having formed upon one end thereof an enlargement having an offset portion adapted to be lapped upon the main portion, an elongated band or strap formed integral with and depending from the main portion of said enlargement, a centrally-located lug formed upon the upper edge of said main portion, and adapted to be bent down upon said main portion to form a hook, a pair of ears formed upon the upper edge of said ofi'set portion of said enlargement, said ears being perforated in such manner that when said offset portion is doubled upon said main portion of said enlargement, and said ears are bent down over said main portion of said enlargement, rivets may be passed through said perforations to form a housing, a book being formed upon the free end of said band or strap to enter said housing and interlock with the hook formed' by said lug.

In testimony whereof we afiix our signatures in the presence of two subscribing witnesses.

ELMER B. WILLIAMS. HENRY R. HINSON. Witnesses:

R. S. STUBBS, PARRY R. COLE. 

